Goddess Annapurna

Goddess Annapurna is the form of divine mother which grants us nourishment. Whether it is material, such as food, whether it is spiritual, such as cultivating a connection with divine.

The word Annapurna is derived from two words: Anna means food and Purna means complete. So it literally means “who is abundant with food”. Goddess Annapurna is considered a form of parvati Maa. She is the wife lord shiva.

Maa has two hands; she holds a bowl in one and spoon in another hand. She is standing on a lotus. She often saw giving food to lord shiva. For Hindus she is a protecting deity and blessed her devotees with abundance of food.

The most fantastic festival to Annapurna takes place in Varanasi, when she is celebrated as the sustainer of life. In the spring she is worshipped in association with the new sprouts of rice in the fields and that time her temple is decorated with the rice sprouts.

In the story, once the earth was in danger. Lord Brahma and lord Vishnu were worried for the human race starving to death. They awakened lord shiva and asked that to solve the problem. Lord shiva summoned the goddess Annapurna to earth and begged her for food. She gave him the food. She promised to lord shiva that she would nourish the people of the scared city of kasi and taking care of them before death. Shiva appeared before her with a begging bowl and goddess parvati fed shiva. Since then goddess parvati is worshipped as the goddess of Annapurna Devi.